Some military families had extra helpers this holiday season and they counted their blessings.

A volunteer helped Joanna Waddoups get a jump on Christmas, carrying two heavy totes laden with the fixins for a complete holiday meal, at the party hosted for military families by Operation Homefront Mid-Atlantic.

The Waddoups clan is among thousands of military families throughout the country who have benefited from the generosity of others during this holiday season. A variety of organizations and individual donors have helped troops and families in large and small ways.

And these efforts are appreciated by families.

"It's hard being so far away from home. … It's hard to have the holiday spirit when you're away from your family. This really helps bring in the season," said Waddoups, whose husband is a Navy E-5 stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland. She brought her daughters, ages 9 months and 4 years, to the Dec. 15 holiday party in Clinton, Maryland, hosted by Operation Homefront Mid-Atlantic, featuring Santa and holiday songs.

She was part of 300 enlisted families in Maryland who each took home a complete holiday meal kit valued at about $100. The kits were two large totes filled with nonperishable groceries including boxed mixes, cans of vegetables and pumpkin pie mix, juices, marshmallows, and other items, donated by the Walmart Foundation. Families also received a voucher from Walmart for a free turkey.

It helps stretch the dollars for their family of four, Waddoups said. "This helps a lot," she said. "And it isn't food that has to be used right away. It can be used throughout the year. It'll be very helpful."

At the Clinton location alone, the value of the donation was about $250,000. These meal kits were among 8,000 distributed this season through Operation Homefront to families in the ranks of E-1 to E-6 at 21 locations nationwide. Besides the Walmart Foundation, other donors included Beam Suntory, Chinet, Thirty-one, Dole and Southern Wine & Spirits-KY. Donors also participate at the local level, including Navy Federal Credit Union at the Clinton event. Local Wal-Mart store employees volunteer their time.

The holiday meals program started in 2009 after a chance encounter between a Beam Suntory employee and a soldier's family. The employee picked up the $12 cost of groceries for the soldier, his wife and baby when the family couldn't afford them at a supermarket near Fort Drum, New York.

"The expenses during this time of the year, coupled with the cost of traveling to reunite with family, places an additional strain on an already stretched budget for these service members," said Tim Farrell, chief operating officer for Operation Homefront. The national nonprofit's primary mission is to provide emergency and other financial assistance to the families of service members and wounded warriors. "Operation Homefront, and its sponsors, want to make the holidays easier by providing a holiday meal as part of our appreciation for the service members' sacrifices for our country."

Operation Homefront Mid-Atlantic has also held five holiday toy parties this season, with each of about 3,000 families in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Fort Lee and Lorton, Virginia; and in College Park, Maryland, getting a wrapped gift for their child and a stocking stuffer gift.

USO locations around the country have also collected donations of food and toys for military families. For example, USO Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore's Project USO Elf gave toys to 1,400 children in enlisted E-5 and below active-duty families in the area. Parents registered their child's wish list, and donors sponsored them. "Most often people buy what's on the list and more," said Michelle Shortencarrier, spokeswoman for USO-Metro. "It's heartwarming to see what it means to military families."

But it helps those who make the donations, too. Shortencarrier said one man told a staff member he gets depressed during the holidays, and has no children. Shopping for the military children lifted his spirits, she said.

Among the other local activities will be Christmas Day dinners served by USO volunteers at the large warrior family centers at Fort Belvoir and Bethesda, Maryland.

USO volunteers are also baking cookies and will deliver them to troops in the Washington-Baltimore area who are unable to go home for the holidays.

And the USO-Metro's Holiday Hotels program is brightening up the holidays for some other troops in the Washington-Baltimore area who are unable to travel home for the holidays. The USO-Metro works with local hotels to provide free three-day hotel stays for visiting family members who could travel to the area. Troops applied for the program in October.

Examples of the many other donations to military families this season include:

•Redbox donated nearly 3,000 Blu-ray discs and DVDs to the Fisher House Foundation. The donations are being used in the movie libraries shared by the families staying at the Fisher House Foundation's comfort homes across the U.S. Families stay there while their service member or veteran is receiving treatment at a military hospital or veterans hospital.

• Building Homes for Heroes and the community of Murrieta, California, held a holiday celebration for a wounded warrior. Army Staff Sgt. Marcos Jimenez, and his wife and five children, received the keys to their new, mortgage-free, 3,000 square-foot home. The home was donated to Building Homes for Heroes by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Volunteers from the community decorated the home for the holidays and donated gifts to the family. Jimenez grew up in Anaheim, and his parents and four brothers live minutes away from his new home.

Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book "A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families." She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.

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